Letter: Social Security and the Republican war on working people

(Courtesy photo)

Jan 28, 2018

The problems that the Social Security Trust Fund is having — and that it will long have — highlight the profoundly negative impacts of the Republican war against working people and the American middle class! By driving down wages so much over the last 40 years, Republicans have not only impoverished or badly hurt a large majority of American workers — they have also dramatically reduced payroll tax revenues taken in by the Social Security Trust Fund.

The Republican suppression of wages has cost the Social Security system well over $2 trillion, and the interest that could have been earned on those lost contributions would have easily added yet another three to $4 trillion to that fund.

So now Republicans want to use the results of that war against working people as an excuse to get rid of the Social Security system entirely or to downsize it so it is no longer relevant. Why? So they can force tens of millions of working people to keep working until they die and thus depress wages dramatically for everyone by doing that — just as Republicans have depressed wages dramatically by hiring many millions of illegal immigrants; by offshoring tens of millions of once good American jobs; by busting most of the unions that used to help workers improve their own wages and working conditions; and by blocking almost every minimum wage increase since 1981 which, not coincidentally, is when Ronald Reagan and his Republican and conservative southern Democrat — now nearly all conservative Republican — allies launched their all out war on working people in order to benefit their super rich Republican and conservative southern Democrat supporters.